With the war drums beating loudly ever since Mike Pompeo accused Iran of launching the drone strike that crippled Aramco oil production, moments ago the odds of an imminent war with Iran de-escalated materially after President Trump said it was "looking like Iran was behind this weekendís attacks" on Saudi oil facilities, but added that "he doesnít want to go war with anyone."
"Itís certainly looking that way at this moment," Trump says in response to a question whether Iran was responsible for the attacks.
"I donít want to have war with anybodyĒ but our military is prepared, Trump says at the White House, where he was meeting with Bahrain Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa. Furthermore, the president said the US is not looking at retaliatory options until he has "definitive proof" that Iran was responsible for attacks on Saudi Arabian oil facilities.
Still, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that the US "is prepared" if the attacks warrant a response.
Also notably, when asked if he has promised to protect the Saudis, the president responded "No, I havenít promised the Saudis that... We have to sit down with the Saudis and work something out."

why I should worship the state (who apparently is the only party that can possess guns without question).
The state's only purpose is to kill and control. Why do you worship it? - Sola_Fide
Baptiste said.At which point will Americans realize that creating an unaccountable institution that is able to pass its liability on to tax-payers is immoral and attracts sociopaths?

The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, has said Washington and its allies were seeking a “peaceful resolution” with Iran in the wake of the attack on Saudi oil facilities, making clear that Washington would limit its initial response to further sanctions.
Pompeo’s remarks, made on his return trip to Washington after visits to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, mark a significant cooling of rhetoric after Donald Trump had warned the US was “locked and loaded” and Pompeo had said the attack, which he blamed on Iran, was “an act of war”.

The Pentagon said its goal was “to deter conflict and get back on the diplomatic path” and stopped short of definitively blaming Tehran for the air strikes which knocked out half Saudi Arabia’s oil production, deferring to Riyadh to make that assessment.
“As of this time all indications are that Iran is in some way responsible,” spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said, before adding: “We’re not going to get ahead of the Saudi investigation in their assessment of this.”
Iran has insisted the attack on a Saudi oil field and refinery was launched from Yemen by Houthi rebels, who have claimed responsibility. Any reprisal attack on Iran by the US or Saudi Arabia, Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warned, would lead to “all-out war”.
“I make a very serious statement about defending our country. I am making a very serious statement that we don’t want to engage in a military confrontation,” Zarif told CNN. “But we won’t blink to defend our territory.”
Asked about Zarif’s comments, Pompeo sought to defuse the stand-off.
“I was here in an act of diplomacy. While the foreign minister of Iran is threatening all-out war and to fight to the last American, we’re here to build out a coalition aimed at achieving peace and a peaceful resolution to this,” the secretary of state said. “That’s my mission set, what President Trump certainly wants me to work to achieve, and I hope that the Islamic Republic of Iran sees it the same way. There’s no evidence of that from his statement, but I hope that that’s the case.”

Trump had made clear that Saudi Arabia would have to take the lead role in any response for Saturday’s attacks. But Saudi officials have made it clear they did not want to trigger a full-scale conflict.
The Pentagon said the focus of its own response was to explore “potential ways to look at mitigating future attacks”.

The Pentagon said the focus of its own response was to explore “potential ways to look at mitigating future attacks”.

The attacks weren't on us. If the Saudi's would stop with the death and destruction maybe the chances of them getting attacked would diminish. However I'm sure they have generated hate that will last for generations. I'm glad Trump has made it clear he doesn't want war with Iran.

Invading Iran would be a “very easy decision,” US President Donald Trump said Friday as regional tensions remain high after attacks on key Saudi oil facilities, Anadolu Agency reports.

“We are by far the strongest military in the world,” Trump told reporters at the White House where he was speaking at a joint news conference with Australian Premier Scott Morrison. “Going into Iran would be a very easy decision, as I said before. It would be very easy, the easiest thing.”

The president, said, however, he has not committed US forces to the mission because he is “showing great restraint.”

“A lot of people respect it. Some don’t. Some people say ‘oh, you should go in immediately.’ And other people are so thrilled at what I am doing. And I don’t do it for anybody. I do it for what’s good for the United States, what’s good for our allies, and it’s working out really very well,” he said.

READ: US allows Iran president to attend UN General Assembly

The comments follow the US announcement earlier Friday that it is sanctioning Iran’s central bank as well as its sovereign wealth fund in retaliation for strikes last weekend on the Kingdom that crippled its output.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the sanctions will result in “no more funds going to” the Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, and will sever Iran’s ability to gain access to international funds.

“We’ve now cut off all sources of funds to Iran,” he said.

Trump maintained he thinks sanctions will work to bring Iran back to the negotiating table and curtail its regional activities the US says are malign, but he added “the military would work, but that’s a very severe form of winning.”

"The most beautiful flowers" lol something is going on when Russia allows Israel to bomb Iran targets in Syria. That Iran deal enriched a lot of western leaders....might we be seeing damage to the deep state?

This actually is a purposeful technique that Trump uses for negotiations. His counter-parts get frustrated that they never know where he stands or what he truly wants. It seems to work for him.

I guess that is how he successfully completed agreements with China and North Korea. (NAFTA doesn't count since they agreed to basically the same treaty they had before). Mexico will pay for that wall any day now.

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Really depends on the issue and point of view. If your goal is to see Planned Parenthood lose federal funding then I would guess your answer would be yes, it works out for us.

Citizen of Arizona
@cleaner4d4

I am a libertarian. I am advocating everyone enjoy maximum freedom on both personal and economic issues as long as they do not bring violence unto others.

Proverbs 29:18
"Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he."

Hosea 4:6
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children."

"No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.Ē ~ Charles Dickens

They are already putting their military on the border to engage the cartels, it would be cheaper if they just ponied up for the wall. The new President will be on board to help out any way he can.

"He's talkin' to his gut like it's a person!!" -me
"dumpster diving isn't professional." - angelatc
"You don't need a medical degree to spot obvious bullshit, that's actually a separate skill." -Scott Adams"When you are divided, and angry, and controlled, you target those 'different' from you, not those responsible [controllers]" -Q

"Each of us must choose which course of action we should take: education, conventional political action, or even peaceful civil disobedience to bring about necessary changes. But let it not be said that we did nothing." - Ron Paul

"Paul said "the wave of the future" is a coalition of anti-authoritarian progressive Democrats and libertarian Republicans in Congress opposed to domestic surveillance, opposed to starting new wars and in favor of ending the so-called War on Drugs."